The present invention relates to a hot-gas piston-type engine having a heat exchanger and to the use of same in various plants such as heating and cooling or refrigeration plants, and gas turbine plants.
On the one hand, a number of heat engines or so-called Stirling engines are known which are driven by an external heat source, such as, for example, those according to German Offenlegungsschrift No. 26 33 233 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,574. In these publications, the main object is to improve the efficiency of the heat engines. On the other hand, heating plants are known to which a hot-air or hot-gas engine is connected. Thus, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 25 22 711, a power unit is described which comprises a combustion plant and at least one hot-gas engine which is connected to the combustion system by means of regenerative heat exchangers.
While the two first-mentioned publications relate to the improvement in the heat engine, or Stirling engine respectively, the last-mentioned publication is concerned with improving the efficiency of a large-scale plant. By comparison, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus or engine and indicate its possible uses, this engine, on the one hand having a high efficiency and, on the other hand, also being able to be used in a relatively small to medium plant, for example in a block of flats or for heating a small business.